A maintenance system for collectively managing a plurality of devices at a remote service center has been known. Functions of the maintenance system include a function of remotely monitoring maintenance information such as a failure in a device, and when a failure occurs, a function of dispatching a service person, or a function of monitoring an operating status of the device such as the number of prints.
When the maintenance service starts, a service center needs to identify the device to be monitored. If the device wants to receive a maintenance service but the device cannot be identified at the service center, the device cannot be monitored. Therefore, a request for starting a maintenance service on the device side and identification of the device on the service center side need to be synchronized.
A technique for solving the problem is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-315059, for example.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-315059, a copying machine requests to start the service to a host with a password and a copying machine ID. Then, if the informed ID cannot be authenticated, the host replies to the copying machine that the password cannot be authenticated. The copying machine that received the reply issues a setup request to the host. The host that received the request registers the ID and the like, replies to the copying machine as such and sets up the copying machine. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-315059, as a copying machine is additionally set, the copying machine is automatically set up when setting is done at the copying machine. Thus, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-315059 provides an advantage in that it eliminates registering processing by an operator at the host.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-016393 discloses a system of informing a request to start a service command to a service center via a modem when the request to start a service is indicated via a panel of a copying machine, and if the model and the serial number of the informing copying machine is determined to have been set at the service center, sending a reply indicating as such and appropriately finishing the request to start a service.
Conventional techniques, however, have the problems set out below.
Whether a setting with respect to a device such as an identifier or the like (for example, a copying machine) is automatically done or manually done, a service center allows a maintenance service of the device to participate in sync with the completion of the setting.
In other words, unless setting for a device that synchronized to the device mentioned above is done, the device is not allowed to participate in the maintenance service even if a device setting worker has done the setting operation for the device. In some cases, a worker needs to do quite complicated operation as the worker needs to do setting operation on another day again.
In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-315059, setting about a maintenance service is automatically done at a service center. If an unauthorized device accesses the service center, the device is forced to participate in the maintenance service. That is a problem with respect to security.